Recently, various members of the lege have been whining about Bobby Jindal closing hospitals and prisons in their districts.

When the leges don’t want to offend Jindal, but want their constituents to believe they are really trying hard, they blame the problem on others.

… Rep. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville, recently told [Southeast Louisiana] hospital supporters that the area delegation had “run the numbers” and determined it just didn’t have enough support in the Legislature to seek a special session to try and block the closure. Times Picayune, September 17, 2012.

Strength in numbers

Perhaps if they “ran the numbers” only for Southeast Louisiana Hospital, they didn’t find the majority necessary to call themselves into a special session. However, if Burns, et al., had checked with all of the leges about the issues in their individual areas there would be more than a majority to call themselves into session.

Real issue

The question is not whether the constituents in the affected areas want the leges to call themselves into a special session to determine a better way to allocate our money. The question is whether a majority of the leges have the guts to defy Jindal.

Jindal is betting that his “lapdogs” won’t bite their master. If the last four and a half years are any indication, Bobby won’t have to take rabies shots anytime soon.